MoonShadow retro-fit

Seeing how I had a minor disaster with having to leave my kayak tied up to the bank and I was gone in the hospital for couple of days when I returned I noticed that my cargo boxes had taken a spill so unfortunately I lost probably I would say 15% of my gear or I should say of my cargo and gear which included some canned goods maybe a bag of clothes and unfortunately to cargo boxes

No this didn’t stop me from continuing on the journey or from having to retrofit Moonshadow into a better streamlined version of itself then the one I had planned with two cargo boxes one inside the other but as I began the retrofit I knew that I was actually winding up with a better streamlined version that would be equipped to handle going upriver and down river better without the cargo boxes then I would with them it’s funny how sometimes adversity can work out to be in the long run better for you having pass through it then what you might’ve intended to do when you had planned it out in the first place

This first retrofit serve me well in being able to plan my interior cargo hold as well as my upper deck plans and an actual rain fly rain tarp kind of a skirting for the kayak in order to plan on transport between camps then unload everything then use the kayak to paddle around on.

Using this format then I wind up with a very streamlined version that is wind resistant or wind conducive because the tarp covers everything and makes it easier to slide through anyways or wind or rain that might come along

So well this wasn’t the final version but was my first steps towards getting organized it was inspiring and help me to get over the hump of losing some of what I had before but adapting to what was going to serve me well in going forward that is what I like about the Great American adventures that I’m on there never quite the same as any other one that I’ve been on and each one has its own unique issues successes failures and adaptions and adaptability they keep me young at heart and strong in mine in order to make work but others might have bailed on as soon as things started to go wrong.

Louisiana Kindness

When it comes to kindness there is a special kind of breed down in Louisiana it’s just time seems to exceed anything that’s up north including Minnesota nice or at least if we’re going to start a north-south war that’s what I’m going to say.

But seriously this gentleman came riding up after riding around in the mud noticing my 10 and introduced himself just simply coming up to see what I was doing and we got to talking and he visited for a few minutes then went back to his right he said he was going home to get cleaned up.

After a little bit I went back inside attention I was getting cold and depressed because the cold wind come up and this was supposed to be sunny and warm weather so I decided after putting on my layers that I would take a walk to try to generate some heat in my legs in my chest while walking along the shoreline beach combing.

As it turned out I was noticing that the river, maybe two or three more inches than yesterday and that means that it already been about 2 1/2 feet higher than what it supposed to be maybe three.

So walking along the shoreline trying to get warm and using my Walkingstick I noticed he rewrote spike that I tossed out to maybe pick up later and I also found a tough box that was full of water in kind of a green slimy mess but I decide to toss it aside and come back for it soon as I finish my walk so heading southward I noticed where the bend in the river was in so I was kind of pleased with myself as I turned around and headed back to camp.

Yes I did I noticed there was the gentleman I had seen earlier standing on his four wheeler riding along coming down the road from the levee and coming my way as he was approaching me I was thinking to myself that I kind of wanted to ask him if he could haul some water for me but it seem kind a rude and so I just waited till he pulled up and before had a chance to say anything he offered me a hot shower.

Of course I hesitated, not but I took him up on his offer and ask him if I could charge my phone as well as fill my 23 gallon water jug’s which I normally would’ve had to use a dolly I have for it in order to get it back to the kayak and I had no place to fill it up yet. This was going to save me a lot of time and effort and so I was thrilled to get a hot shower on a day that had turned cold and windy and while there is no rain now it definitely was Temperature dropping.

The rain...

When finally the rain did hit it hit so hard and so fast that it created a leak inside the tent that I have and that I thought was somewhat waterproof unfortunately came into the corners as I would say river turtle and then form itself going at a diagonal across the 10th floor to the back of the tent where I had to cut a hole in order to create the exit point for the river itself which then filled up the sand underneath and created a lake both inside and outside of the tent the rain came down so fierce that it went through the rain fly so internally I created a inside roofing from two tarps I also had typed up the northern side of the walls on the outside but unfortunately the The rain came down so hard that within I would say two or three hours there was probably at least an inch or two and that may not seem like much when you’re out somewhere else but when you’re sitting on top of a swamp on the other side of the levee next to the Mississippi River even a half an inch coming down fierce and hard certainly creates a Maki situation and flood light conditions so when this shit it wasn’t so much the cold as it was dodging water everywhere as I began to string ropes and began to move everything off of the floor and create at least a 2 inch barrier of everything that would get wet or could get wet standing on top of it seem to me that all the test that I’ve had never seem to be on able to handle the heavy rains that I run into I now have in mind my own set of modifications I’m going to do to attend that I’m going to purchase that even though I like this big can’t and I got it at a real cheap price I’m going to get a tent and modify it to where it works for me especially on the Mississippi river or anytime of kayaking so what’s the range did begin to let up some unfortunately no real sunshine still didcome and it began to rain in the middle of the fog now that I found interesting because it was foggy and yet it was raining I’m not quite sure how that works and less it was raining from higher up in the fog was Lowground fog but either way everything was getting wet except for me sitting underneath tarps inside at times when the rain would let up I walked over to the Mississippi River and where I had landed originally was already more than a foot underwater yesterday and by the time the rains let up it was Now 2 feet underwater at the time of this recording the Mississippi river is up according to a local that lives here right next to the levee is up 3 1/2 feet higher than what it normally is it this time of year that tells me a lot it also explains why there were so many logs floating downriver moving rather quickly and why barge traffic seems to been held up for the last week between New Orleans and Baton Rouge and why I have three Ocean trawlers sitting just off shore for me with the fog and with the rain I managed to get my writing journals where I am doing hand writing journals going and so even though their appears one journal entry here on Blogger I have four more pages already done and had written on both sides sooner or later I’ll scan them in when I have more battery time and sunshine

Louisiana Loop - Journal 1 - FOG

Sat Feb 10 2018 

8th Day on the Mississippi River

3rd Day at Camp 2 approx 

River Right

10 miles south Baton Rouge Bridge before bends in the river, common 4 wheeler tracks and road access over levee.

Second set before Dow Chemical on right.

Cajun cousin

He really is Cajun, or at least part and part French.

That’s what’s great about a great American adventure is that you never know when someone just might pull up on a four wheeler or someone might come paddling up on a canoe or someone just might be passing by on an ocean going trawler that my friends is a great American adventure.

Now I’d like to say that everything is predictable every day when I go kayaking and that the sun is always bride there’s food in my cargo and every morning is breakfast and eggs and every night is steak and whatever it is that outfitters do but for me no that’s not the way it works I’m back to racing trying to make ends meet with water and hauling things around and using Lyft and you know it’s fascinating because you know lift is becoming kind of like the river angel of the Mississippi rivers it’s really convenient to be able to get someone to take you right to where you want to go and be able to see them coming to get you now I’m not saying that I can always afford it but the few times that I’ve had to run emergency lift is really come up big for me Uber unfortunately I got dumped twice up in northern Minnesota.

Now to be fair most of these Lyft drivers are driving for Uber also but in northern Minnesota when they passed me by three times that hurt my feelings until finally I got a ride that took me free unbelievable magic carpet ride that I went on the yellow submarine that I called this yellow taxi that took me on a ride around never forget but then again you have to read that in how not to kayak to Mississippi River book series and in the book I think it’s volume three but I’m not sure of Mississippi in the first person but you could read it there.

In the meantime I’m just happy to have a day that didn’t completely rained on me all day long and I was able to get quite a bit of gear cleared up cleaned up dusted off mudded free and moved inside the tent that I have now tonight I’m going to try to just sleep pretty much without having to get all bundled up and warmed up and see how well the warmth of the night is now that it’s starting to warm up at night eventually I look forward to taking even the rain tarp off and just looking at the stars at night but so far they’re predicting rain tonight and for the next few days is probably gonna rain just like they say so I’m adapting and that’s kind of what makes it all so fun it’s not something that you have to be depressed about or obsessed to get on with what you were doing but rather treat it as an adventure treated as something that’s great about America something that doesn’t come as a cyber experience but rather you have to get out get Dirty get muddy get wet and get on with it and figure out how to make ends meet that’s why I am out here with the great American adventure series tonight just meet people like my Cajun cousins film told me the whole history the area that he didn’t come in here and four wheeling we’re actually dirtbike it since he was eight years old and now he’s taking his sons to the exact same place he said it feels like home now admittedly he used to go a lot farther down the Mississippi river but then they put the Dow chemical plant there and they kind of close off some of the areas that he used to go but that’s OK because every area has its own places to go and have fun and places for industrial and places for oceangoing trawlers and places for barges and also places for a kayaker like me to pitch a tent and have a camp.

Lady Bug

Trying to describe everything that is going on up until this moment probably is best remembered I just simply looking at the ladybug I mean think about it where do ladybugs come from where did they go how do they get here where they going when they’re crawling around where they going when they’re flying all I can say is that today is so much better than the last six days today I’m sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River I am oh maybe only about five or 10 miles south of Baton Rouge Bridge maybe I’m only owe I don’t know six or seven days before I get going again maybe for five but today the sun is shining today it’s hot like it’s supposed to be in Louisiana it’s muggy like it’s supposed to be in Louisiana and I’m not freezing and I’m inside a large family tent that’s I can stand up and I’m not crouched down in a little pup tent with umbrellas over me and a tarp hanging on for trying to keep warm inside my mommy bag while it’s pouring down rain I’m not throwing up left and right from some water pollution or some bug or virus that I got I’m not laying in a hospital bed I may not have all the gear I started with and I may not have as much weight as I begin with but today I’m actually healthier and in better shape then when I started I know that doesn’t make much sense to some people but you see you have to be here long distance Patiller or a expedition kayaker or solo kayaker to understand where I’m coming from because you said we don’t look back on what but we just survived in order to get where we are today we look forward to how we adapted and I made it this far and how much easier it is now that we’ve streamline our process that we’ve adapted to the circumstances that when it should’ve been the way we planned it turned out to be cold and rainy in ways that we weren’t prepared necessarily for but not unprepared that’s the nature of the great American adventure not that it turned out the way you wanted to but that you pass through it that you get through the thunder and lightning you make it to the rain you survive the cold and then when the rainbow comes out and you’re sitting on the water paddling and everything is just smiling at you you got a wind at your back and you looking down out towards the saltine golf waters you know you know you did it not just because you planned it but because you adapted to all the circumstances that came up on the Mississippi river on the Louisiana loop

Pros and Cons to Progress

Now I know there’s pros and cons to progress and sometimes the pros outweigh the cons but sometimes the cons just seem like they catch up with you little bit specially on the Mississippi River.

Up until this barge wouldn’t buy that came out of the channel water was pretty much the same as he always said lotta sediment not too bad on the pollution why is it not too much for the pretty much excepted you could look at not worry about drinking we have a filter well long about the time this barge one by the whole shoreline turn black and I’m not exaggerating I took a look at it and I kept thinking May and I don’t know what is Lincoln but you can’t tell me that that just came out a natural because you’re enough before it happened there was nothing on the shoreline now after it happened oh you could see it was not Blacksand it look like it was something beautiful on one of the beaches it look like one of those cons to progress and unfortunately that happens now I can tell you for sure that after a good rain or after maybe some high tide and low tides that this too shall pass and once again Mississippi be back to a river that recovering because after all there was a time when I guess they didn’t do as good a dredging as they used to and I guess they didn’t have as much money as they used to and are used to get pretty rough around here same thing with true I guess it one time with the pollution they just let it go until they realize that they were killing the Gulf of Mexico well now people are trying to do a better job I’m not going to say everybody’s perfect and I’m not going to say everybody should be a greeny but somewhere in between the two whether your green or yellow or black or white or red or purple all over we all got to work together in order to keep the river A safe place to paddle and did you splash in especially if you want to go swimming I’m not too sure about swimming across the river because there are occurrence but I guess it could be done good after all when I went down Mississippi River there was somebody that was swimming from one into the other and he did it